The Biden administration has told 11 officials appointed to military service academy advisory boards by former President Donald Trump to resign or be dismissed, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN’s KFile.
The officials asked to resign include prominent former Trump officials like former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, former senior counselor to President Kellyanne Conway, and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster. They were appointed to the advisory boards of the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, and West Point respectively.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday afternoon confirmed the request had been made.
“The President’s objective is what any president’s objective is — to ensure you have nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with your values. And so yes, that was an ask that was made,” Psaki told reporters at a White House briefing.
Psaki added: “I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards, but the President’s qualification requirements are not your party registration, they are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration.”
Other more prominent names include Heidi Stirrup, the former White House liaison to the Justice Department who was banned from entering the building after she attempted to access sensitive information about possible election fraud in December 2020, and retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, a former ambassador pick and Pentagon official with a history of controversial comments. The duo were appointed to the boards of the Air Force Academy and West Point.
Source:CNN
